My Mall Pilgrimage

  

       While this wasn't my first trip to Woodland Mall, it was the first time I was there just to hang out. I went with two friends and the vague goal of buying a dress for a formal event. As we stepped into the building, shivering and shaking the snow off our boots we were met immediately by a blast of warm air and a set of bright, polished stainless steel doors. Opening those, we walked into the picture above: a large plaza filled with trees and comfortable-looking chairs, naturally lit through skylights in the ceiling.

       People milled around happily. I saw couples and families enjoying the day together, groups of friends laughing. No one seemed to be on a mission. I was almost taken aback at how happy I felt right away. I'm not a big shopper at all, but the mall was bright and cheery and smelled like pretzels, I was with good friends and everything felt about right. It's staggering to realize how much of my mood lift was carefully manufactured by the mall to make me buy things. 

       My friends and I browsed casually through a few stores and I realized the truth of John Pahl's statement that: "malls disorient visitors. They do so quite intentionally, in order to reorient pilgrims toward the purveyors of commodities from whom shoppers might acquire an impulsively purchased 'bargain'." I doubt I would be able to draw any sort of map of the mall; it seemed to just keep on going. There were twists and turns and corridors: all crammed with stores. The stores themselves were often confusing as well. We got lost in Macy's as the women's clothing section seemed to push us into the more expensive cosmetics and jewelry. Finally we stopped in Forever 21, a store perhaps more suited to our budgets. 

       Immediately we were hailed with garish banners announcing sales. Perhaps it was a successful way to cut through the "clutter" of ads: one couldn't turn anywhere without seeing an encouragement to buy. Loud, upbeat music played and I realized that the demographic for this store was my age group. The cheery noise, bright signs and contemporary fashions were also supposed to prompt someone like me to buy something. The layout and feel was completely different from a store like Hot Topic, which lured the emo/punk crowd in with black lighting and rap music or Ann Taylor, which sought the business of a middle-age mother type.

       Bright, attention-grabbing banners throughout Forever 21 screamed prices. One sign said $2.50 in large numbers and then in small letters "and up, select items only". Essentially the sign said that some items in the display were $2.50, and the rest were more expensive. It was a sign that gave absolutely no information, but drew people over with promise of low prices.

       My friends and I met up at the jewelry section and looked through the cheap trinkets. People who saw the documentary Reel Injun might be interested to note that Native American designs seemed to be a popular trend. Below is a photo of some feathers, fringe, and "totem"-like designs that were featured prominently among the accessories. 

       One friend found a cute belt, another eyed a bracelet, while I found a necklace that looked like a small alarm clock. But even as we walked to the register we realized that we didn't need the items, we didn't even really want the items. We all just wanted to buy something, like the daughter in Pahl's chapter, some souvenir from our trip.We didn't end up purchasing anything, but I wonder if we hadn't been thinking consciously about what we were doing if we would have. 

        The mall has become one of the most popular places for people to hang out, and that's a very odd concept when you think about it. People will go to stores with no intention of buying anything and then feel like to complete their experience they have to purchase something-- to "give an offering" at the church of consumerism. I enjoyed my trip to the mall, but after everything I watched and read, I ended up making my one purchase of the day across the street at Plato's Closet, a resale store, where I found the dress I was looking for for $6. I'm glad that I'm becoming more aware of consumerism and advertising. I feel like it's much easier now for me to make a trip to the mall nothing more than a day out with friends, and not some sort of pilgrimage. 

Shop Till You Drop

Going to the mall is such a normal activity in my life. Although I am not a super huge fan of shopping, I nonetheless get roped into going with my friends and family quite often. This morning, though when I went to Woodland Mall, I walked in with a different purpose. I wanted to walk around the mall and think about and analyze it in light of the article and film we watched in class.

The first thing that I noticed upon entering the mall was the plethora of advertisements that I was immediately bombarded with. There were numerous signs down the middle of the walkway that had advertisements for anything from universities to movies. Another thing that I noticed, which I probably would not have noticed without watching the film in class, is that all these ads were trying to appeal to my emotions. In the movie, it was explained that advertising companies are no longer trying to just sell you the product but they are trying to sell you a happy life. In one advertisement for University of Michigan, the slogan was emphasizing the very low teacher-student ratio, which is probably trying to make its viewers feel like they will be special and focused on at this school.

Another thing that I was especially paying attention to was the layout and decorations of the mall in light of Pahls’ chapter concerning malls becoming “sacred places.” I first noticed all the fake trees scattered all over the mall. Pahl states that “…the powerful symbols of the tree and vegetarian are commonly employed in mall design. Growing things are held sacred in almost every religion…” (75). Another thing that reminded me about churches was the high, vaulted ceilings, especially in the middle of the mall. I connected that to the sanctuary in my church that has that type of ceiling.

As far as the nontangible aspects of the mall, I was paying close attention to the signs outside of stores, such as signs telling about big sales or trying to convince customers to buy its products. The majority of the signs that I saw were trying to convince the customers that they needed that product, whether to make them happier or because it’s the “in” thing or just to make a bold statement. Before entering the mall I told my friend not to let me buy anything because I was solely going to observe, but without even realizing it I was walking into stores and wanting to buy things. When my friend called me out on this, I realized that I was so easily persuaded by the advertisements around me and that they actually are very appealing. That made me think about how advertisers are digging into the minds of Americans and persuading them, possibly even without their knowledge of it, to turn the malls into a sacred place and to start to place more emphasis on the market over faith itself, like Pahl suggests.

Woodland Mall

Being a girl who really enjoys shopping, I’d like to say that I have visited malls rather frequently. After watching the film The Persuaders and reading the article by John Pahl, I was interested to see if my trip today would come across any differently than it had the previous times I visited.

Watching the film The Persuders really opened my eyes to just how much advertising we are hit with every day from the streets, to the malls, to even the bottom of the cups that we drink out of. It became so much clearer to me while visiting the mall today just how much this advertising affects the way we buy particular items and the stores that we shop in. Because I’m Dutch and very savvy with my money, the first section of the store I’m always attracted to first is the clearance section.  It wasn’t until today while paying careful attention to the way advertising was set up that I realized just how big, bold, and bright the signs leading me to the clearance section really were. These signs lured me in quite promptly, getting me to buy something without me every intending to in the first place. I also noticed that the music being played and just the overall environment in each store was fashioned for the crowd it meant to attract. In the stores more for my generation, pop music was playing while in one of the furniture stores, the music was much more mellow. I realized that it’s not just merely the advertising, but the whole vicinity of the shopping mall that persuades shoppers into buying particular items.

Meant to Buy

Revisiting Woodland after learning some secrets of the mall’s effectiveness in making the average goer into the avid consumer revealed the truth in many assertions that I had hitherto not bothered to notice.

Woodland Mall does in fact have skylights—and not just one big one in the center, but smaller ones down the four wings, which light up the hallway as peacefully majestic music plays. It also contains plenty of foliage, all fake, securing greenness year-round. The food court at Woodland is named Cafes in the Woods and decorated with fresh produce sculptures and leaf pictures. As Pahl wrote, “Life—abundant, even eternal—is the message. Malls thus play upon the human desire to experience growth and new life…” (73). And although Woodland is no Mall of America, it has its own attractions, for kids and adults alike, in the form of kiddie rides and hurricane wind boxes.

Stores are not merely about product anymore—they are about the image, the experience, being that brand. Each store plays different music to create their own unique atmosphere. The makeup store Bare Escentuals has, painted on the wall inside its door, makeup? No. Ballerinas. And just as Song aired television commercials of happy people running around, a jewelry store at Woodland Mall has a giant picture of a smiling wedding party. The jewelry piece itself is not featured, but its image is implied. Bath and Body Works has a sign out front bearing the words “New! Escape to the Tropics,” over top a picture of a nude woman showering in nature—no product in sight.

Many stores also prey upon women’s desire to achieve the “ideal” body. Female mannequins in store windows almost always have their tops pinned in the back because they are too big.

The mannequins are so slim that not even the smallest size fits them properly, yet women are told that if they purchase that shirt, perhaps they can inch closer to that image. I was especially startled at noticing the mannequins in the Francesca’s window; they were so skinny not even Vera-Ellen had a waist like that. And doesn’t everyone want to be a supermodel?

I realized the effectiveness of all this sensory bombarding when, upon seeing The Body Shop’s sale sign, I nearly rushed into the store. Now, I did not visit Woodland intending to purchase anything. I fit in the 40% Pahl reports (71), but only barely reached the 10% of goers who manage to not buy anything. The challenge in visiting the mall is not to find what you want, but to resist buying what you do not need.

Finally, a few other favorite ads, which put you in the center of the universe and create perceived obsolescence:

Woodland Church

After our class discussions, reading a chapter from Jon Pahl's Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Places: Putting God in Place, and watching The Persuaders I caught a vision of the mall that I never had before. As I walked in, I saw scripture in every window telling the congregation what it meant to live faithful lives of consumerism. American Express: "always inspires, never expires." ALDO: "get lucky!" Bath and Body Works: "Escape to the tropics." Gap: "For life as you live it." Bakers: "If it fits, buy it." CHICOS: "Life's too short to blend in." I saw infants baptized into strollers. I saw the fountain as an offering plate. I saw consumerists worshiping their God, testifying with bags of new stuff.

As I approached the center of the mall, the ceiling rose and space opened. I had made it to the alter. A line of roughly 15 people had formed, all waiting to take communion at Starbucks. It was there that they broke twenties and drank of their lattes. Seated around them were Apple sales associates evangelizing to potential customers as they demonstrated their newest product. On the other side of the coffeeshop was the pastor's office (security). The men behind the desk have all the answers for sheep led astray and some of them even patrol the sanctuary, keeping watch over their flock.

I never expected this activity to be so enlightening, terrifying, or convincing. While the Woodland Mall isn't as overtly religious as a contemporary church, it does seem to share an eerie resemblance with various types of religious communities.

No Sleep

No Sleep Wiz Khalifa

While flipping through my car’s radio I came across the song No Sleep by upcoming hip hop artist Wiz Khalifa. I decided this song would serve well for my first artifact post. The song comes off of Khalifa’s debut album Rolling Papers, which found itself number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 197, 00 copies in the first week of sales in the United States. When asked about the title to the album Wiz Khalifa was quick to admit that in fact Rolling Papers was exactly what everyone thought it meant rolling paper to smoke weed. No Sleep was one of the most popular songs on this album.

The song starts with an upbeat synthesized tone, the kind of beat that gets everyone on the dance floor. However, the lyrics that follow the beat may if fact be the reason a dance floor would clear. Wiz Khalifa rattles off three straight phrases littered with profanities that in essence describe what he would declare a good weekend complete with boos, weed, women, and loud music. These phrases are followed by a somewhat cleaner chorus. In the chorus Wiz Khalifa describes again the killer weekend that he is having. There are no secrets in the lyrics that he puts forth. One line in the chorus states “I’m gonna drink gonna party all night long”.

The song’s clear message is that partying is what life is all about. No matter the day of week we as listeners to this song should make everyday a party with weed, boos, and ladies. This sharply contrast the message of the Kingdom which is to live everyday honoring the True Creator with actions like serving others and respecting those we come in contact with. Wiz Khalifa offers an alternative that is nowhere near this message to get as high as possible and go into another reality one that makes one forget about the troubles of the actual world. In a sense living a fantasy every day.

In the end I really could not see the Kingdom revealed through the words and music of Wiz Khalifa. The music left me feeling unsatisfied and almost dirty for putting my ears through such a message. However after thinking awhile I decided maybe if we can twist the lyrics so that instead of getting high and drinking every day that we can live with a Kingdom vision of living to serve others and speak the words of Truth.

Discussion Questions:

1. What does this song and for that matter the album title tell about the public’s view of things like drugs even in fact if they are illegal?

2. Should we just listen to the music and forget about the crass lyrics?